Opening Day Hangover Applesauce

This is easily my least favorite day of the baseball season. I have to wait a whole 24 hours (!) to see the Mets again, right after they put together a solid 2-1 win over the Reds in opening day. Why do the schedule makers tease me?

Around the Mets

As previously mentioned, the Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds 2-1 yesterday afternoon on a cold, rainy opening day in Cincinnati. Johan Santana made the start, pitching 5 and 2/3rds strong, although slightly wild, innings. Santana struck out 7 and walked 4 while allowing 3 hits. Santana gave all the credit to the team's bullpen following the win, saying "That was something we were very inconsistent with last year, so to see us get that out of the way in the first game is definitely great for us and brings our confidence level up. That's what this team is going to be all about, and we showed it today." The bullpen certainly did show up, to the tune of 3 and 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings from Sean Green, J.J. Putz, and Francisco Rodriguez. 

Both Met runs were driven in by hitting savant and quasi left fielder Daniel Murphy. Murphy got the Mets on the board in the 5th inning with a long at bat that culminated in a line drive home run to right field. The at bat reminded manager Jerry Manuel a little of former MVP Frank Thomas. Murphy also drove in the second run with an RBI groundout in the 6th.

Met management was surely watching Ryan Church's game as the right fielder has been in the spotlight since the Sheffield acquisition. Church did not disappoint, getting 2 bloop hits and making a tremendous diving catch that turned into a double play. Sheffield might have to wait a little longer.

In other more random news, Yahoo! probably should work on getting their pictures straight for the Mets.

Faith and Fear's Greg Prince spent opening day at Citi Field with Mookie and Ed Kranepool. Not too shabby.

The Daily Stache uses the term Murphy's Law. Let's hope that's not the case this year.

Around the NL East

If you were watching yesterday's Nationals-Marlins game, you saw something that statistically happens only once every 51.3 years. The Marlins hit an inside the park home run and a grand slam in the same game. Speedy leadoff hitter Emilio Bonifacio was responsible for the ITP and Hanley Ramirez hit the grand slam. The Marlins are going to be a fun team to watch, even though that fun will come all too often at the Mets' expense. Also in that game, Adam Dunn hit a bomb to right for his first National home run, while also butchering left field.

Philadelphia worries that their team might be too left-handed. This is why Will Ohman would've been a perfect fit for the Mets. Oh, and by the way, that town seriously needs to relax and enjoy themselves. They're 0-1 and there are already columns saying to avoid the panic.

Around MLB

Joe West has been elected as president of the umpire's union.

The Yankees might have been a bigger opening day flop than the Phillies, losing 10-5 to Baltimore yesterday. Sabathia got shelled, Texeira took an o-fer and got mercilessly booed by his fellow Baltimorians (?). 

Ichiro is waiting to take a blood test to see how well the medication has worked in treatment of his bloody ulcer (typing those words made me cringe).

The Dodgers are calling up former Met firstbaseman Doug Mientkiewicz and should-have-been Met reliever Will Ohman.

The Padres have placed former Met outfielder Cliff Floyd on the 15 day DL for a right shoulder injury.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 612th career home run and the first in his return to the Mariners in yesterday's game in Minneapolis.

For all you MLB.TV fans out there, this is great news and was clearly evident in yesterday's broadcast. The high definition was spectacular and the video player was smooth. Two thumbs up.

Philadelphia News

Philadelphia police are still looking for a tailgating fan with an Eagles tattoo who assaulted an off-duty police officer before Sunday's Philly home opener. You stay classy Philly.

That's all. Try not to spend too much time yearning for more regular season ball.